Tony Oppedisano was friends with the superstar singer for 26 years and was with him when he passed away

By Emma Pryer | The Daily Mirror-London

Frank Sinatra ’s piercing blue eyes glanced upwards.

He fixed a telling look in his best friend’s direction, then summoned the strength to find the right note.

“I’m losing,” he said wearily.

Tony Oppedisano – standing by the singer’s bed, firmly holding his hand – knew Sinatra was preparing to take his final bow.

The pair had been pals for 26 years but grew very close for the last eight years of Frank’s life after another pal Jilly Rizzo died.

So it was fitting Tony was there for the last words uttered by the man dubbed simply The Voice.

“He wasn’t panicked,” Tony recalled.

Frank Sinatra sings in concert

“He was just resigned to the fact that he had given it his best but he wasn’t going to come through.

"I told him I loved him but those were the last words I ever heard him say before he passed away.”

Tony’s revelation comes amid a surge of fresh interest in movie superstar and crooner extraordinaire Sinatra, who would have been 100 next month.

Born in Hoboken, New Jersey, to Italian immigrants on December 12, 1915, Sinatra would become one of the greatest entertainers of the 20th Century, selling over 150 million albums worldwide and winning 11 Grammys.